Connect Outlook or Microsoft 365

In short: An Outlook connection consists of two layers. First, you connect a Microsoft account once for the whole aishaa account (this requires the Account admin role and sometimes approval from your IT admin). Then you choose per organisation which Outlook mailbox aishaa uses through that account. Sending and receiving then run directly through Microsoft; no forwarding is needed.

Where to find this

Go to Organisation > Channels > Mail and choose the Outlook / Microsoft 365 card. If no Microsoft account has been connected yet, you see the Connect Microsoft account button; it takes you to the Outlook page. If an account has already been connected, you choose the mailbox directly on this screen and Manage Outlook takes you to the Outlook page. That page can also be reached via Advanced settings > Providers > Manage Outlook.

Who: choosing a mailbox, importing and managing mailbox bindings is possible from the Organisation admin role and applies per organisation. Connecting, reconnecting and disconnecting the Microsoft account itself applies to the whole account and requires the Account admin role. Without that role, the Connect personal Microsoft account, Connect work or school account, Reconnect, Disconnect and Disconnect everything buttons are disabled.

The Outlook page uses a few technical terms (mailbox binding, endpoint, principal connection). This article uses them as they appear on the screen.

The Outlook page (via Connect Microsoft account or Manage Outlook) with the Connect personal Microsoft account, Connect work or school account, Refresh and Microsoft 365 help buttons, a connected Microsoft account with a status label and below it the Outlook mailbox bindings section.

How the connection is structured

Outlook is the only connection in which several mailboxes hang off one sign-in. This way, with one work or school account you can, for example, connect support@ for one organisation and info@ for another organisation.

Step 1: connect the Microsoft account

1. Open the Outlook page (via Connect Microsoft account in the wizard or via Manage Outlook).
2. Choose the type of account:

3. Sign in to Microsoft with the account that has access to the support mailbox and give permission.
4. You return to the Outlook page. The account is now in the list with the address, the type of account (Personal, Work or school or Unknown), the number of mailbox bindings and a status label.

Status labels of a Microsoft account:

If you choose the wrong type of account in the wizard (for example Connect personal Microsoft account while you sign in with a work account), the connection fails. In that case, try again with the other button.

Step 2: approval by your IT admin (work or school accounts only)

In many Microsoft 365 environments, employees are not allowed to give an app access to email themselves. In that case, after signing in you see the Approval needed label next to the account, with the Approve button.

This is how you arrange the approval:

1. Are you the admin of your Microsoft 365 environment yourself? Then click Approve. You go to the Microsoft approval page for your environment; sign in as an admin and accept the requested permissions.
2. Are you not an admin? Click Microsoft 365 help. At the top of the dialog it says Sometimes someone from IT or your Microsoft 365 admin must give permission first before Outlook can be connected., with three tools below it:

3. Ask your IT admin to open the link, sign in as a Microsoft 365 admin and approve the aishaa connection. The admin does not need to do anything else in aishaa.
4. Then click Refresh on the Outlook page. The label changes to Connected.

Close closes the dialog.

The Microsoft 365 help dialog with the Open approval page, Sample email to IT admin and Show approval link buttons.

The ready-made message for IT

The Email for IT dialog contains a message you can forward as it is. At the top it says Use this message if someone from IT or your Microsoft 365 admin needs to help connect Outlook. Below that are two prefilled fields you do not have to write yourself:

Each field has a copy button: Copy subject and Copy message. After copying you see Subject copied. or Message copied. Then paste them into your own email program and send the message to your IT admin. Put your own name below the message; the sign-off has no name in it. If copying does not work, you see Copy failed. Please try again. In that case, select the text yourself.

The Email for IT dialog with the prefilled Subject and Message fields and a copy button next to each field.

Step 3: choose the mailbox for this organisation

The quickest way is through the wizard:

1. Go to Organisation > Channels > Mail and choose Outlook / Microsoft 365 (if needed, first click Change setup).
2. Under Microsoft account, choose the connected account.
3. Under Mailbox address, enter the address of the mailbox this organisation uses, for example support@yourcompany.com. This can also be a shared mailbox the chosen account has access to.
4. Click Use this mailbox.

If it works, you see Mailbox connected and active. and the Current setup overview opens with the Outlook label under Sending via. If aishaa could not read the mailbox yet, you see Mailbox connected, but read access could not be verified yet. In that case, check whether the account has access to that mailbox and whether the approval has been completed.

In doing so, aishaa automatically sets up an endpoint for the mailbox address, a routing rule for mail to that address, the mailbox binding and the Outlook sending method. The endpoint becomes the default sender if the aishaa Mail address was the default sender until then.

The Outlook / Microsoft 365 screen in the email wizard under Organisation > Channels > Mail, with the Microsoft account dropdown, the Mailbox address field and the Use this mailbox button.

Manage mailbox bindings

On the Outlook page, below the accounts, is the Outlook mailbox bindings section (Link endpoints to specific Outlook mailboxes that are accessed through a Microsoft account.). This is where you connect additional mailboxes or change an existing connection. Without a connected Microsoft account, it says Connect a Microsoft account first (above). A mailbox binding uses the tokens of that principal connection and cannot work without an account. and New mailbox binding is not available.

To add or edit a binding:

1. Click New mailbox binding, or Edit next to an existing binding.
2. Fill in the fields:

3. Click Save. You see Mailbox binding saved.

For each binding, the table shows the columns Mailbox (with Inactive if the binding is not active), Endpoint, Principal, Validation, Import, Inbound and Error, plus the Edit and Delete buttons.

For each Microsoft account, the top section shows a shorter version of this table, with the columns Mailbox, Validation, Last import, Inbound and Error, and an Import button for each mailbox.

What you see when nothing is set up yet

The Outlook page has an empty state for every section, so that you can see what the next step is:

With an empty state you also do not see the Lookback days field or the Import all mailbox bindings and Disconnect everything buttons; those only appear once a Microsoft account has been connected.

Import history

On the Outlook page, above the accounts, is the Lookback days field (minimum 1, maximum 365, default 30). Click Import all mailbox bindings to fetch recent emails for all connected mailboxes, or Import next to one mailbox. You see the progress in the Import in progress block. See Import email history.

Reconnect and disconnect

• If an account shows Reconnect needed, click Reconnect. You sign in to Microsoft again with the same type of account. All mailbox bindings under that account then work again.
• Disconnect next to an account removes the connection for all organisations in the account that work through this Microsoft account. Disconnect everything does this for all Microsoft accounts. Both buttons require the Account admin role.
• Delete next to a mailbox binding only stops the use of that one mailbox for that one organisation. The Microsoft account stays connected.

Existing tickets and messages are kept after disconnecting. As long as no sending route of your own is active afterwards, aishaa sends from the aishaa Mail address.

Good to know

• On the Advanced mail configuration page, an Organisation admin sees on the Outlook card how many Microsoft accounts are connected and how many mailbox bindings are active, with an Action required or Warnings label if something needs to be done.
• Replies from a ticket fail with a clear message if Outlook requires admin approval or if the authorisation has expired. Resolve it on the Outlook page and send the reply again.
• After repeated errors while fetching, aishaa temporarily pauses fetching for a mailbox. The page then shows Paused until with a date and time; after that, aishaa tries again automatically.
• Sending through Outlook has a maximum message size in aishaa of 10 MB per email (including attachments). See Sending limits and image optimisation.
• A history import never changes the status of a ticket and does not reopen closed tickets.
• A personal Microsoft account does not need admin approval; that only applies to work or school accounts.

Related

• Email setup: the options at a glance
• Import email history
• Advanced: endpoints, sending methods and routing rules
• Account and organisation: what belongs where
• Email not arriving or not being sent